MANGALORE: A KSRTC Rajahamsa bus plunged off a bridge killing the driver and injuring 11 passengers in the wee hours of Friday, near Uppinangady on NH-48.
Driver Bheemappa Rathod (35), succumbed while being shifted to a local hospital. Eleven passengers, including conductor Kariappa Urugoli, sustained minor injuries.
The injured passengers, Dr Anand from Bangalore, Bhaskar Kulkarni from Hubli, Ozwald Pais from Kadri Barebail, were shifted to Mahaveer Hospital and Jenita from Bangalore, Arun Lobo from Kadri Kambala, Srikanth and Shrikanth from Bangalore were shifted to Pragathi Hospital in Puttur.
Conductor Kariappa Urugoli, who sustained a fracture, was shifted to a hospital in Puttur.
Eyewitnesses said that at about 5 am, the bus failed to negotiate the sharp curve and broke through the barriers on the bridge to plunge into a rivulet from a height of 50 metres.
It was a providential escape for the passengers as the level of water in the subsidiary joining Nethravathy river was very low.
The injured received medical attention in quick time due to the efforts of the locals, fire personnel and police.
The driver who was thrown out of the bus was found clinging to a rock. He was immediately shifted to hospital but succumbed on the way.